Description
An authentic rare spectacular Kwele Beete ritual African mask cira 1950/1960
Approx dimensions are as follows;
Diameter; approx 20” from top to bottom.
Width; approx 18” at the widest point.
Inner Mask; approx 9” tall by 8” wide.
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A similar mask from the same period sold at Dorotheum in 2015 for 00.00
Kwele, Gabon mask :Tribal Art
Date: 26.05.2015, 14:00
Location: Palais Dorotheum Vienna
Exhibition: 20.05. - 26.05.2015
• realized price**
EUR 7,500
USD 8,000
• estimate
EUR 12,000 to 14,000
USD 13,000 to 15,000
Christies and Sothebys have sold them for up into the 0,000/0,000
Here is another sale from Bruno Mignot African Primitive Art Gallery listing for ,853.00
bruno-mignotdotcom
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The Kwele (or Bakwele) live in northeast Gabon, across the border with Kongo and Cameroon.
This worn used Kwele mask is carved from lightweight wood and features a heart-shaped slightly concave face with slanted coffee bean slit eyes, small nose and a small mouth on the chin of the face. From the top of the head the mask is entirely surrounded and framed by two antelope horns. The horns are represented by the heart shape structure surrounding the inner face. Both the mask face and the inner surface of the horns were originally colored in white. All the remaining surfaces of the mask are dark. A very rare authentic old mask which was used to ward off witchcraft spirits and showing old shiny patina as a result of protracted use with age related scuffs. Performing with this piece in a week long Beete ritual was the antidote to the witchcraft spirits. Circa 19th or beginning 20th century. Provenance: This Kwele mask was part of a collection from an estate purchased in Chicago that we were able to secure a few pieces of. The collection also included a few Dogon piecers as well so please take a moment to view my other listings from this sale. The collection was originally collected over a period from the 1950s-1960.
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TRIBAL AFRICAN ART
KWELE (BAKWELE, BEKWIL, EBAA, KOUELE)
Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of the Congo
The Kwele occupy a great forest region on the borders of Gabon, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo. Their village communities comprised a number of lineages and were governed in the usual way for "headless" equatorial societies, that is in a diffuse and more or less informal manner. The Kwele believe that unexplained deaths, epidemic smallpox, and other mysterious threats to the well-being of individuals or the community are caused by witchcraft. Witches are believed to live in male or female hosts, from which they emerge at night to feed upon the internal organs of their victims. The antidote to witchcraft is the beete ritual, which includes masked performances. The beete cult reinforces unity and maintains social order. The beete ritual, which lasted for a week, would open with the departure of men into the forest to hunt antelope, whose flesh, seasoned with medicines, had to be eaten at a meal at the closing ceremony. During the hunt, women and children stayed in the village; after one or two days, ekuk masks would “leave” the forest, enter the village, and invite the people to come dance and sing. Ekuk means both “protective forest spirit” and “children of beete.” It displays a flat surface and often has a whitened heart-shaped face, a triangular nose, coffee-bean eyes and small or non-existent mouth. This mask, with two large horns, represents the antelope. The faces are usually painted in white kaolin earth, a pigment associated by the Kwele with light and clarity, the two essential factors in the fight against evil. Later another mask, the gon (gorilla), announced by bells, would make its entrance; the women would immediately lock up all the domestic animals inside the huts; everyone would begin looking for shelter. Gon is a dangerous mask. The wearer of the gon mask is nude – as opposed to the person dressed in the ekuk, who wears a wide skirt of fibers. The gon mask is made in the image of a skull of a gorilla, an animal feared by the Kwele because of its frequent destruction of their crops. The masks are hung in Kwele houses and also worn during dances related to initiation ceremonies of the beete cult. Their function was to "warm up" the village atmosphere in order to activate the beneficial forces. Maskers made the spirits manifest. Entering the village to the accompaniment of music, male spirits pranced rhythmically, while female spirits (also danced by men) shuffled slowly.
Some other masks have obvious animal or bird attributes and bear their names; others are enigmatic in their identity. Stylized sculptures with similar facial features are also produced. Inside the Kwele huts sculpted plaques can be found.
